View
5
Download
0
Category
Preview:
Citation preview
NPRA
2008 Q&A and Technology Forum PD-08-117 page 1
NPRA Q&A and Technology Forum NPRA
M3 TECHNOLOGY, INC. www.m3tch.com
Dealing with Crude Supply Problems
Requires Quick, Accurate
Scheduling Decisions
Authors
Robert Hutchings
Dr. Dong Dong
Real-Time Value Chain Management and Optimization Session
Paper No.: PD-08-117
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
NPRA
2008 Q&A and Technology Forum PD-08-117 page 2
Business Process Evolution
• Many of our business practices go back to paper-based systems used at our refineries 20 to 30 years ago.
• As computer technology became available, the paper forms were converted into spreadsheets and required a lot of manual data entry.
• Everyone developed their own spreadsheet that met their job requirement.
NPRA
2008 Q&A and Technology Forum PD-08-117 page 3
Business Process Evolution
• However, few spreadsheets were using the same data.
• Consequently, it was difficult to compare results between different spreadsheets.
• Some form of data integration might have been developed to address the problem of data consistency.
• Little was done address visibility and collaboration.
NPRA
2008 Q&A and Technology Forum PD-08-117 page 4
Ageing Workforce
• Remember the Y2K crisis?
• It was nothing compared to the current ticking bomb.
• The impending retirement of the people that created and use those spreadsheets our business needs for survival.
• Some of those spreadsheets have 10 to 20 years business know-how built into them.
• A more subtle loss is the interpersonal relationships that fostered collaboration
NPRA
2008 Q&A and Technology Forum PD-08-117 page 5
No Room for Mistakes
Challenging Environment
• Downsized operations
• Just in time (JIT) production practices
• Minimized tankage
• Volatile crude pricing
• Margin pressure
• External environment
o Public policy
o Geopolitical turmoil
o Environmental (weather)
NPRA
2008 Q&A and Technology Forum PD-08-117 page 6
Facing the Challenges
• Faced with the new challenges, innovative systems are required.
• Building wrappers to envelop 10 to 15 year old code does capture the benefits of state of the art systems technology. In addition, the people who created the original code are retired or will be retiring soon.
• Consequently, refiners are searching for or developing new solutions.
• Plant level and enterprise level systems are being designed to improve transactional efficiency, scheduling effectiveness, greatly enhance collaboration and provide a truly coherent view of the enterprise with the ability to drill down to the minutia when required.
NPRA
2008 Q&A and Technology Forum PD-08-117 page 7
• Storm in the Gulf causes a late arrival of several crude ships.
• Crude inventories need to be managed to assure stable refinery operation and that adequate cuts are made to keep all units operating.
• Crude scheduler re-optimizes the crude blends for the next week to assure units are operational and that gasoline and other products can be made.
• Gasoline blender, working with the forecasted rundowns & inventories re-optimizes the gasoline blend recipes for the next week to assure that do not run out of required components or if out-of-stock on a critical component is forecasted then issue an order to purchasing to buy the component.
• This entire process needs to be completed within several hours
Problem Scenario
NPRA
2008 Q&A and Technology Forum PD-08-117 page 8
Refinery Flows: Planning & Scheduling
Nominations
& Scheduling
Ships & Pipelines
Crude Unloading,
Crude Scheduling
& Blending
Process Unit Scheduling Product Blending & Distribution
Planners and schedulers need to visualize the plant level operation and drill
down as required to see the cascading effect of crude changes and quickly run
what-if scenarios to evaluate alternative schedules. State-of-the-art systems
provide simultaneous execution of crude scheduling, process unit scheduling,
crude and product blend optimization, product progression and product lifting.
NPRA
2008 Q&A and Technology Forum PD-08-117 page 9
Nominations
& Scheduling
Ships & Pipelines
Refinery Flows: Ships, Docks & Pipelines
Challenges
• Ship schedule typically vary +/- 2 days
• Demurrage is a major cost
• Storms & channel problems can compound the problem
• Pipeline schedules have low variability
• Calculate and account for pipeline fills
• Track compositions from receipt to crude tanks
NPRA
2008 Q&A and Technology Forum PD-08-117 page 10
Dock Scheduling Visibility
Cargo Arrival Schedule Inbound Transit Docking/Unloading
Outbound Transit
Tanks Receiving
NPRA
2008 Q&A and Technology Forum PD-08-117 page 11
Crude Unloading,
Crude Scheduling
& Blending
Refinery Flows: Crude Tankage & Blending
Challenges
• Limited crude tankage
• Stratified tanks
• Crudes fed to unit thru inline blender
• Crudes fed to unit thru crude charge tank
• Optimum mix of crudes required to meet production requirements while maintaining stable operation
• Drawdown select crude tanks in time to receive new cargo to minimize demurrage
NPRA
2008 Q&A and Technology Forum PD-08-117 page 12
Crude Scheduling Objective
• Generate feasible schedule
• Make the qualities of crude diet stable
• Improve the crude unit throughput
• Reduce crude “quality giveaway”
• Evaluate and handle opportunity crude rapidly
• Reduce demurrage
• Optimize crude schedule
NPRA
2008 Q&A and Technology Forum PD-08-117 page 13
Potential Benefits
• Reduced Crude “Quality Giveaway”
Constraints in planning crude selection can be raised
Sulfur: from 3.0% to 3.2%
API: from 22 to 20
Using the World Bank 2004 data, the saving for 200,000 BBL/D is:
$9.49 million dollars
NPRA
2008 Q&A and Technology Forum PD-08-117 page 14
Process Unit Scheduling
Refinery Flows: Process Units
Challenges
• Process unit scheduling
• Maintenance issues
• Actual reactor conversion
• Actual rundown rates
• Actual versus Planned
Crude
Vacuum
Catalytic Cracking
Hydro Cracking
Coking
Reforming - BTX
Hydrotreating
Alkylation
Distillation
Hydrogen Production
Process Units
NPRA
2008 Q&A and Technology Forum PD-08-117 page 15
Product Blending & Distribution
Refinery Flows: Rundown, Component Tanks & Blending
Challenges
• Rundown to component tanks
• Inventory management
• Component pricing
• Single recipe optimization
• Multi-period blend recipe optimization
• Distribution Scheduling o Pipeline
o Trucks
o Rail Cars
o Ships
NPRA
2008 Q&A and Technology Forum PD-08-117 page 16
Quickly and accurately determine crude recipes for the coming week, month or any period that allows the crude scheduler to see the cascading effects of crude blending and scheduling changes
Modern user interface empowers the gasoline blender to visualize and interact with the schedule and quickly run what-if cases for single and multiple blends.
Multi-period Blend Optimization
Typical Blend Recipe to be Passed to Blender
NPRA
2008 Q&A and Technology Forum PD-08-117 page 17
Collaboration among Schedulers
• Each of these scheduling areas may be managed by different schedulers and report into different departments
• Visibility to what is going on is paramount
• Efficient collaboration is required to make quick and accurate decisions
• All schedulers need to be notified of changes and be able to see who changed what and when.
NPRA
2008 Q&A and Technology Forum PD-08-117 page 18
Scheduling Activities
• LP Planning provides period averages
• Scheduling systems must convert plans into actionable events
o Dock Scheduling
o Crude Scheduling
o Multi Period Crude Blending Optimization
o Process Unit Scheduling
o Multi Period Product Blending Optimization
o Product Shipment Scheduling
Planning
Scheduling
Multi-Blend
Dock Manager
NPRA
2008 Q&A and Technology Forum PD-08-117 page 19
Plant Level Visibility & Collaboration
Emerging Systems
• Enterprise scalable
• Service oriented architecture
• Multi-user
Multi-model
Multi-tier
• Must easily integrate with
plant and enterprise systems
• Users are notified of data
changes detailing
who changed what and when
• Data is entered only once
Data
Base
Plant
Scheduling
Fuels
Blending
Crude
Scheduling
Dock
Scheduling
Web Services
Integration
Interface
ERP
Nominations
Oil Movements
& Storage
Plant
Historian
Laboratory
Information
LP Planning
Systems
Ship
Scheduling
NPRA
2008 Q&A and Technology Forum PD-08-117 page 20
Global
Visibility
Corporate HQ
Planning
Scheduling
Multi-Blend
Dock Manager
Refinery C Refinery B Refinery A
Planning
Scheduling
Multi-Blend
Dock Manager
Planning
Scheduling
Multi-Blend
Dock Manager
Enterprise Visibility & Collaboration
NPRA
2008 Q&A and Technology Forum PD-08-117 page 21
• Efficient integration among the business and planning & scheduling systems enables a uniform view of enterprise and plant level planning and scheduling environment
• Business processes embedded in the systems foster collaboration
• Fast and accurate modeling of the plants and operations empowers planners and schedulers to evaluate many possible options quickly.
• Advanced Systems Technology
o Enhanced security
o Enhanced change management capability
o Robust operation
• Results: Reduced operating cost and enhanced margins
Conclusion
Recommended